What The Green Paper Means For Social Housing

The Social Housing Green Paper may well mark a seminal moment in the English housing sector. However, this may perhaps be more for what it ushered out than what it ushered in. A number of notable policies introduced during the Cameron-Osborne years have been unceremoniously dumped or reversed:

– The High-value Assets Levy that was to be paid by councils to cover the cost of replacing homes sold by housing associations under the voluntary Right to Buy – gone

– The Housing and Planning Act 2016 contained powers to require councils to implement fixed-terms to new tenancies – this policy has been scrapped

– Consumer regulation was pared back in 2010 with the Tenant Services Authority infamously being made into ‘toast’ by then housing minister Grant Shapps. The Green Paper explores a number of options to beef up consumer regulation so it is on a par with economic regulation

– Performance league tables are being considered to allow meaningful comparison between social landlords. This was last possible when the Audit Commission and its KLOEs (key lines of enquiry) was in its pre-coalition government pomp, before being abolished.

Read more on the See Media website.

http://see-media.co.uk/what-the-green-paper-means-for-social-housing/

New Approach to Social Housing Inspection Announced

A new approach to social housing inspection has been announced by the Tenant Services Authority (TSA) following the conclusion of a consultation. The Regulator received overwhelmingly positive responses to the proposals and has therefore decided to implement the approach to inspections outlined in the consultation. The main features of the new approach to social housing inspection are:
• Inspections are no longer routine: The Regulator will only use its power in order to investigate where there is reason to believe a provider may be seriously failing TSA standards or regulatory requirements
• The TSA will draw up a bespoke brief to specify the scope of an inspection, so Audit Commission key lines of enquiry (KLOE) will no longer be used for housing services inspections
• This brief will require the inspectors to provide clear evidence of whether there has been a failure of a standard or regulatory requirement
• The TSA will decide the final judgment on the fact of a breach and whether the failure is serious
• Where failure is identified, in most cases the Regulator would expect to publish the inspection report, subject to any applicable exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act. The TSA’s published regulatory judgments will normally reflect the findings of an inspection commissioned by the TSA. Read more on the TSA website.

Inspection Focus

HouseMark's Inspection Focus database combines links to every housing inspection report with a search engine to view information by KLOE, organisation and Audit Commission rating. It also contains a searchable archive of positive practice identified by inspectors with supporting documents referred to in the reports. You will need to be registered with HouseMark to access the database.

ALMO Best Performers

The Audit Commission has published a list of top performing ALMOs for each KLOE. The list shows which ALMOs performed well in inspections between 2007-09 in areas like value for money, empty property repairs and gas servicing. Find the list on the Audit Commission website.

Updated Strategic Approach To Housing KLOE

The key lines of enquiry (KLOE) and the descriptors and evidence documents here are for use on inspections that are on-site from the week commencing 12 April 2010. The KLOE and the descriptors and evidence documents below are available as a combined, single document by request to housing@audit-commission.gov.uk . Inspections on-site before this date will use the April_2006_version_of_the_KLOE Find more details on the Audit Commission website.

What Does Excellence Look Like? Asset Management And Major Works

This briefing covers the sub-section of the asset management and stock condition KLOE entitled Capital improvement, planned and cyclical maintenance, major repair works. It encompasses the key areas of asset management planning, stock condition and major works. The briefings will eventually cover all the service and cross-cutting areas inspected. It is intended to provide advice and guidance for officers looking to prepare for inspection and for those wanting to understand what top-performing organisations are doing which impressed the inspectors. Please note, this briefing is available to HQN members only and you will need to be logged in to HQN to access the briefing. The document can be found in the "What's New?" section.

Positive Practice – Audit Commission

The Audit Commission has issued its most recent set of items of positive practice, covering KLOEs 3, 4, 6, 10, 31 & 32, identified during Housing Inspectorate inspections. The report covers inspection reports published during July and August 2009. For a copy of the Excel spreadsheet (54kb) email phil.meadows@nottinghamcityhomes.org.uk